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Author Topic: 102 Things NOT To Do If You Hate Taxes  (Read 18938 times)
Teatownclown
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« on: August 02, 2011, 08:09:46 pm »

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/05/18/102-things-not-to-do-if-you-hate-taxes/
So, you’re a Republican that hates taxes? Well, since you do not like taxes or government, please kindly do the following.

1. Do not use Medicare.
2. Do not use Social Security
3. Do not become a member of the US military, who are paid with tax dollars.
4. Do not ask the National Guard to help you after a disaster.
5. Do not call 911 when you get hurt.
6. Do not call the police to stop intruders in your home.
7. Do not summon the fire department to save your burning home.
8. Do not drive on any paved road, highway, and interstate or drive on any bridge.
9. Do not use public restrooms.
10. Do not send your kids to public schools.
11. Do not put your trash out for city garbage collectors.
12. Do not live in areas with clean air.
13. Do not drink clean water.
14. Do not visit National Parks.
15. Do not visit public museums, zoos, and monuments.
16. Do not eat or use FDA inspected food and medicines.
17. Do not bring your kids to public playgrounds.
18. Do not walk or run on sidewalks.
19. Do not use public recreational facilities such as basketball and tennis courts.
20. Do not seek shelter facilities or food in soup kitchens when you are homeless and hungry.
21. Do not apply for educational or job training assistance when you lose your job.
22. Do not apply for food stamps when you can’t feed your children.
23. Do not use the judiciary system for any reason.
24. Do not ask for an attorney when you are arrested and do not ask for one to be assigned to you by the court.
25. Do not apply for any Pell Grants.
26. Do not use cures that were discovered by labs using federal dollars.
27. Do not fly on federally regulated airplanes.
28. Do not use any product that can trace its development back to NASA.
29. Do not watch the weather provided by the National Weather Service.
30. Do not listen to severe weather warnings from the National Weather Service.
31. Do not listen to tsunami, hurricane, or earthquake alert systems.
32. Do not apply for federal housing.
33. Do not use the internet, which was developed by the military.
34. Do not swim in clean rivers.
35. Do not allow your child to eat school lunches or breakfasts.
36. Do not ask for FEMA assistance when everything you own gets wiped out by disaster.
37. Do not ask the military to defend your life and home in the event of a foreign invasion.
38. Do not use your cell phone or home telephone.
39. Do not buy firearms that wouldn’t have been developed without the support of the US Government and military. That includes most of them.
40. Do not eat USDA inspected produce and meat.
41. Do not apply for government grants to start your own business.
42. Do not apply to win a government contract.
43. Do not buy any vehicle that has been inspected by government safety agencies.
44. Do not buy any product that is protected from poisons, toxins, etc…by the Consumer Protection Agency.
45. Do not save your money in a bank that is FDIC insured.
46. Do not use Veterans benefits or military health care.
47. Do not use the G.I. Bill to go to college.
48. Do not apply for unemployment benefits.
49. Do not use any electricity from companies regulated by the Department of Energy.
50. Do not live in homes that are built to code.
51. Do not run for public office. Politicians are paid with taxpayer dollars.
52. Do not ask for help from the FBI, S.W.A.T, the bomb squad, Homeland Security, State troopers, etc…
53. Do not apply for any government job whatsoever as all state and federal employees are paid with tax dollars.
54. Do not use public libraries.
55. Do not use the US Postal Service.
56. Do not visit the National Archives.
57. Do not visit Presidential Libraries.
58. Do not use airports that are secured by the federal government.
59. Do not apply for loans from any bank that is FDIC insured.
60. Do not ask the government to help you clean up after a tornado.
61. Do not ask the Department of Agriculture to provide a subsidy to help you run your farm.
62. Do not take walks in National Forests.
63. Do not ask for taxpayer dollars for your oil company.
64. Do not ask the federal government to bail your company out during recessions.
65. Do not seek medical care from places that use federal dollars.
66. Do not use Medicaid.
67. Do not use WIC.
68. Do not use electricity generated by Hoover Dam.
69. Do not use electricity or any service provided by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
70. Do not ask the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild levees when they break.
71. Do not let the Coast Guard save you from drowning when your boat capsizes at sea.
72. Do not ask the government to help evacuate you when all hell breaks loose in the country you are in.
73. Do not visit historic landmarks.
74. Do not visit fisheries.
75. Do not expect to see animals that are federally protected because of the Endangered Species List.
76. Do not expect plows to clear roads of snow and ice so your kids can go to school and so you can get to work.
77. Do not hunt or camp on federal land.
78. Do not work anywhere that has a safe workplace because of government regulations.
79. Do not use public transportation.
80. Do not drink water from public water fountains.
81. Do not whine when someone copies your work and sells it as their own. Government enforces copyright laws.
82. Do not expect to own your home, car, or boat. Government organizes and keeps all titles.
83. Do not expect convicted felons to remain off the streets.
84. Do not eat in restaurants that are regulated by food quality and safety standards.
85. Do not seek help from the US Embassy if you need assistance in a foreign nation.
86. Do not apply for a passport to travel outside of the United States.
87. Do not apply for a patent when you invent something.
88. Do not adopt a child through your local, state, or federal governments.
89.Do not use elevators that have been inspected by federal or state safety regulators.
90. Do not use any resource that was discovered by the USGS.
91. Do not ask for energy assistance from the government.
92. Do not move to any other developed nation, because the taxes are much higher.
93. Do not go to a beach that is kept clean by the state.
94. Do not use money printed by the US Treasury.
95. Do not complain when millions more illegal immigrants cross the border because there are no more border patrol agents.
96. Do not attend a state university.
97. Do not see any doctor that is licensed through the state.
98. Do not use any water from municipal water systems.
99. Do not complain when diseases and viruses, that were once fought around the globe by the US government and CDC, reach your house.
100. Do not work for any company that is required to pay its workers a livable wage, provide them sick days, vacation days, and benefits.
101. Do not expect to be able to vote on election days. Government provides voting booths, election day officials, and voting machines which are paid for with taxes.
102. Do not ride trains. The railroad was built with government financial assistance.

The fact is, we pay for the lifestyle we expect. Without taxes, our lifestyles would be totally different and much harder. America would be a third world country. The less we pay, the less we get in return. Americans pay less taxes today since 1958 and is ranked 32nd out of 34 of the top tax paying countries. Chile and Mexico are 33rd and 34th. The Republicans are lying when they say that we pay the highest taxes in the world and are only attacking taxes to reward corporations and the wealthy and to weaken our infrastructure and way of life. So next time you object to paying taxes or fight to abolish taxes for corporations and the wealthy, keep this quote in mind…

“I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.” ~Oliver Wendell Holmes
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guido911
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« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2011, 08:39:00 pm »

So there is a list of what 50% Americans who pay no federal or state income taxes receive for free (save medicare/SS). Way to frak yourself.
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Conan71
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« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2011, 10:48:52 pm »

And your list might be a good starting point for people to start crossing off the things they don't want out of government.

I don't know of anyone who doesn't want to be taxed.  I do happen to know a lot of people who think the government shouldn't ask for more tax dollars out of their pockets until government gets its spending under control and quits greasing all these special interests with money it doesn't have in the first place.
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we vs us
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« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2011, 05:58:26 am »

And your list might be a good starting point for people to start crossing off the things they don't want out of government.


You're one of the most thoughtful conservatives on the board but, damn, is that where we stand these days?  I want all of these things.  I expect all of these things.  And I expect to pay for them.  And to have these things, it's neither impossible nor too expensive. 

This is what kills me about the current debate:  there's no reason to make those choices.  We don't have to cross things off.  We can easily pay for what we want.  We're the richest freakin' country in the history of the world, and we can't pay enough to our government for basic services?  We've actually done it moderately well up to the turn of the millenia.  But then we hit this ten year span of government that decided to take on a few $T in unfunded liabilities, all while lowering taxes drastically, by several more T$.  And then we had an economic collapse unrelated to the unfunded liabilities.  And all of a sudden it's a systemic problem and we need to make cut after cut after cut to programs that improve the quality of everyone's life.  But none of these things interrelate.  The budget deficit is not the result of us overpaying for sidewalks, or overpaying the FAA, or overpaying WIC, or overpaying for Pell Grants.  The budget deficit is a direct result of about five items.  And when we fix those five items -- which can easily be done! -- we're in the clear.

It's like the Bush II Admin manufactured the environment that proved the basic rightie theorems about government and now we're reaping the whirlwind. 

 
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Gaspar
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« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2011, 06:14:45 am »

You're one of the most thoughtful conservatives on the board but, damn, is that where we stand these days?  I want all of these things.  I expect all of these things.  And I expect to pay for them.  And to have these things, it's neither impossible nor too expensive. 

Than pay for them.  I don't see a whole lot wrong with this list, it's just the layers of waste piled on top of some of these items, and the thousands of other adopted government responsibilities that would make this list a hundred pages long.  That's where the divide between Big Government thought and Private Sector thought is.

Government has a basic duty spelled out in our constitution, and yes it's natural tendency is to grow, and it has.  As it begins to grow out of control it becomes our duty to prune it back.

I have a rose bush by my front porch.  It's beautiful and everyone enjoys it.  It's natural tendency is to grow out of control into the walkway, and it has thorns.  I have to prune it several times a year.  It makes my wife angry because I cut off a ton of blooms.  If I simply let it grow it will tear my kids to shreds.

We need to prune government.  We don't want to cut everything, but we do need to remove some blooms so we can provide a better future for our children.

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we vs us
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« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2011, 08:40:27 am »

Than pay for them.  I don't see a whole lot wrong with this list, it's just the layers of waste piled on top of some of these items, and the thousands of other adopted government responsibilities that would make this list a hundred pages long.  That's where the divide between Big Government thought and Private Sector thought is.



That's a canard.  It's nothing more than an excuse to gut the list of things that TTC posted.  The only layers of waste that are ever fingered by the GOP are those programs in the list.  I've come to the point that I can't accept that as a rationalization for cutting budgets unless I'm given up front what you expect to save and where you expect to save it from.  It's simply not self-evident because you say it is. Otherwise, it's just a good excuse to destroy the third of our government budget that actually supports the function of governing.

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BKDotCom
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« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2011, 09:07:07 am »

Our tax dollars pay for clean rivers?
58. Do not use airports that are secured by the federal government.  (read "do not get groped or nudi-scanned when traveling")

Sure most of this list is stuff the govn't should provide.
However, there's no reason each should become it's own ever-growing government bureaucracy with unchecked spending and waste.  The TSA is a prime example.  What a joke.  There's trillions of dollars right there being wasted.
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AquaMan
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« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2011, 09:22:20 am »

Yes, they do pay for clean rivers. Rivers that used to be flammable and sterile. Rivers that used to be dammed up for industrial use and filled with PCB's.

And what do you think would have been preferable to TSA? Its a joke that showed we would make an effort to hinder terrorist threats. We executed it with our own level of incompetence but I haven't heard of any planes exploding mid air lately. If you think corporates could do any better then you believe in a fantasy. The general level of incompetence and waste in America is widespread and growing.

Government waste is an always dependable, ever popular bumper sticker subject. Corporate and private waste is more or less ignored. Big Box retailers routinely throw away furniture and electronics that need minor repair or that simply didn't sell well because they are so afraid they might have to pay for an employee to fix them or that an employee might cheat them. Their distributors enable the waste by paying them to destroy them with credit rather than returning them and incurring freight cost. The manufacturer doesn't quality check their products because they save labor costs that way. Cheaper to just give credit. We throw stuff away all over this country to keep prices low. But we actually just defer the real costs.

Is that better waste than government waste?
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RecycleMichael
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« Reply #8 on: August 03, 2011, 09:25:54 am »

The TSA budget is only $8.1 Billion. That is about a week of the cost of the Iraq war.

Thank you W.
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BKDotCom
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« Reply #9 on: August 03, 2011, 09:33:12 am »

here's some more good ones

Do not use the US Postal Service
   I try not to.   All they do is loose my mail.   USPS is only used by solicitors and bill notices

Do not whine when someone copies your work and sells it as their own. Government enforces copyright laws.
    You mean the laws that are written by Disney and the other big media companies so that "fair use" doesn't exist / nothing ever enters the public domain?

Do not use money printed by the US Treasury.
    Can't think of the last time I did.

Do not ride trains.
     Sen Coburn says what trains?

Do not expect plows to clear roads of snow and ice so your kids can go to school and so you can get to work.
     Ha.    This is Tulsa.    Think of the children!  We can't send kids to school when it's cold outside!   A plowed road is a slick and dangerous road.   Close the schools until the snow melts I say.
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Conan71
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« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2011, 09:40:10 am »

This is what kills me about the current debate:  there's no reason to make those choices.  We don't have to cross things off. 
 

I'm still inspired by the words of JFK's inaugural speech in 1961.  "Ask not what your country can do for you..."

I believe every American should make it incumbent upon themselves to think of something they could do without.  Certainly there are many good and worthy things government does in that list that TTC posted.  The list even thoughtfully lists items which are funded on local, state, and federal levels though they are not identified as such in that list.  I probably use less than 1/2 of the items or services on that list and underutilize many of the ones I do use, but I do realize my tax contribution is necessary to help improve the standard of living of other citizens.

We need to quit providing services to non-citizens which would not be reciprocated in their home country (i.e. any sort of financial aid, education, or free medical care- try that in China, Mexico, Ireland, or Brazil) to a non-citizen.  There are also layers of administration in many of the federal programs on the list which are entirely unnecessary and which do nothing at all to improve the efficiency of those programs.  Given we are now in an entirely digital age, government administration should be a fraction of what it is.  That's money which could be better spent on public safety (not to be confused with national defense) and infrastructure.  We have the means to stop fraud in medicare, medicaid, welfare, and tax cheats yet the claim is always there's not enough people to enforce it...B.S. it's a matter of priorities.  Take people out of admin and put them in enforcement and investigations.

Probably more important is ending the thinking that small amounts of waste are insignificant.  Every bit of waste is significant as are even the smallest of tax loopholes.

It's really no different than when I've had a drop in income.  I took a $30K hit a year ago, same job but bonuses of previous years dried up due to some large clients scaling back due to the economy.  I've had two goals which have been unwavering:  I've got a specific retirement goal I'm saving toward, and I refuse to borrow a penny to send my daughters to college.  

I still managed to hit those goals, but it required prioritizing my spending and deciding what things I could do without.  I had to keep paying my mortgage, I needed water, electricity, heat, transportation, and food.  Here's what I didn't do: No big vacation, I cancelled my cable and went with a discounted DirecTV package, got rid of internet at home (since I could use 3G access), limited how much I ate out, deferred finishing non-essential renovation items on the home I bought in 2009, put off buying a new vehicle until my personal financial picture improved, and didn't spend much on things I "wanted" and even managed to pare down my "needed" items. When I finally bought a car this year, it was a program car and the savings in gas alone make a fair amount of the payment.  I make decisions within my means.  Government could do the same if it weren't so concerned with trying to solve every single problem and provide every single service where there's a perceived gap.

I get slammed all the time by others on the board for comparing my micro thinking to macro-economic issues, but there's absolutely no reason not to compare the two.  I have ratios of my personal GDP that I spend, that I save, and that I use to pay down long term debt.  I think the biggest problem facing us is a general ignorance of what all these government services cost and how many of these services we all use without completely realizing they are government-provided.

People keep going back to the prosperity of the "Clinton Surplus" without fully appreciating the investment bubble in the late 1990's which helped create a crap ton of new tax revenue that higher tax rates alone did not create.  That wasn't even necessarily an increase in productivity, a lot of people were getting wealthy doing nothing more than passive investing or creating a .com and shilling it off to the public in everyone's rush to be on the ground floor of the next big winner.  Sure those companies were able to put people on payroll, but it was on borrowed funds and sooner or later those dry up if the concept is not sustainable.  Consider it a private sector "stimulus".

I submit that without having the luck to preside over one of the largest technology expansions ever (.com, telecom, biotech) the waning years of the Clinton administration would not have been near as rosy and we might have even crept off into recession sooner than 2001.  I'm actually a Clinton fan, but these are immutable facts which get conveniently butchered in the haste to paint the Bush administration (I'm less a fan of Bush II than Clinton, if you must know) as completely incompetent.  The Bush admin did enjoy very low unemployment and economic prosperity, he simply had the poor timing to initiate tax cuts just prior to expensive wars (which went much longer than anticipated) and unforeseen record natural disasters and the poor judgement to not rein cuts in when needed.

/ramble
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Conan71
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« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2011, 09:47:26 am »

Yes, they do pay for clean rivers. Rivers that used to be flammable and sterile. Rivers that used to be dammed up for industrial use and filled with PCB's.

And what do you think would have been preferable to TSA? Its a joke that showed we would make an effort to hinder terrorist threats. We executed it with our own level of incompetence but I haven't heard of any planes exploding mid air lately. If you think corporates could do any better then you believe in a fantasy. The general level of incompetence and waste in America is widespread and growing.

Government waste is an always dependable, ever popular bumper sticker subject. Corporate and private waste is more or less ignored. Big Box retailers routinely throw away furniture and electronics that need minor repair or that simply didn't sell well because they are so afraid they might have to pay for an employee to fix them or that an employee might cheat them. Their distributors enable the waste by paying them to destroy them with credit rather than returning them and incurring freight cost. The manufacturer doesn't quality check their products because they save labor costs that way. Cheaper to just give credit. We throw stuff away all over this country to keep prices low. But we actually just defer the real costs.

Is that better waste than government waste?

Actually corporate waste is quite limited due to accountability to shareholders.  Your example doesn't compare to layers of useless administration in government and what you are referring to as waste is built into the cost of products we buy.  As well, there's more than simple corporate laziness behind throwing away items.

Government has spent money it doesn't have because it's not accountable to the people who are it's stakeholders.  They way you cure that is with a BBA.
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"It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first” -Ronald Reagan
BKDotCom
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« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2011, 09:51:37 am »

OK, lets assume that those 102 things are essential..
Here's the budget:

Giant graphic:  http://information2share.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/death-and-taxes.jpg
Zoomable graphic:   http://www.wallstats.com/deathandtaxes/

What percentage of the budget are these items receiving?
Can you find most of them in the budget?

Our priorities are not the priorities given in the budget
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carltonplace
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« Reply #13 on: August 03, 2011, 09:52:21 am »

I have to correct this one:

33. Do not use the internet, which was developed by the military Algore.
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Teatownclown
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Put the "fun" back into dysfunctional, Tulsa!


« Reply #14 on: August 03, 2011, 09:59:21 am »

I have to correct this one:

33. Do not use the internet, which was developed by the military Algore.


33. Do not use the internet, which was developed by the military Algore counter culture hippies.
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